


a song from the wrong side of town

by icedmachinery, icemachine



Category: Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, may become non-canon compliant next week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25166365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedmachinery/pseuds/icedmachinery, https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemachine/pseuds/icemachine
Summary: “Thanks, pal.”Managing the words is gunshot-painful.(Keeg, Larry, and Rita, flying back to Cloverton.)
Relationships: Keeg Bovo & Larry Trainor, Rita Farr & Larry Trainor
Comments: 9
Kudos: 58





	a song from the wrong side of town

**Author's Note:**

> edit from 12/14/20: lmao this isn't canon compliant but i wrote it before the next episode aired so

“Thanks, pal.”

Managing the words is gunshot-painful, and Larry knows—-knows that the Spirit felt it too, the visceral shattering inside of him—- _ he killed his own grandson, this is his fault, Dex—- _

It is staring directly into his eyes;  _ don’t blame yourself,  _ the gaze says,  _ this is  _ **_not_ ** _ your fault,  _ but the Spirit is always going to believe that—-it has the misconception that some part of Larry, some hiddenburied aspect of his sickness, is capable of good.

Larry Trainor killed his grandson.

No one survives Larry Trainor—-

“For the love of all that is holy, can you please put us down?” Rita asks, her voice enunciating the word  _ down  _ with fear. 

The Spirit rolls its eyes and continues flying. It’s unsettling.

“I don’t think it’s going to put us down,” Larry says. “I have a feeling it’s going to fly us all the way back to Cloverton.”

“Cloverton is three hours away.”

“I’m aware.”

This is when Rita allows her discomfort to drop and notices, tunes herself to Larry’s wilting mind. “Larry, what happened in there?”

“I told him,” Larry breathes. “I told him I’m gay, and he just… I think it made him hate me even more. As if being a distant, asshole father wasn’t bad enough to him, I just had to be cheating on his mother with a man.”

“I’m sure that’s not what he meant.”

“If it was,” Larry sighs, “I wouldn’t blame him.”

“You know there’s nothing wrong with who you are—”

“I know. There’s nothing wrong with  _ that  _ part of who I am.” He feels his chest begin to cave in, his lungs shrinking and shriveling. “But the rest of me… is despicable. I’m sorry, Rita.”

Rita reaches over, struggles through the Spirit’s surprisingly tight grip, and  _ slaps him. _

“Lawrence Trainor, if I  _ ever  _ hear you say that again…”

“I’m not wrong. I’m the reason that Dex—-that  _ all  _ of this—-happened.”

“No, your  _ son  _ is the reason that all of this happened. He couldn’t have simply expressed his emotions in a  _ healthy  _ way? He couldn’t have, I don’t know, just  _ yelled  _ at you for being a terrible father instead of calling the Bureau of Normalcy? And aren’t they a top secret government organization, anyway? How did he even know?”

“Not expressing our emotions in a healthy way seems to run in the Trainor family. And I don’t know, but maybe—”

“You were trying to help them. If Dex getting shot is  _ anyone’s  _ fault, it’s Paul’s. He’s the one who decided to make the call.”

“I don’t believe that, but okay.”

“I know you don’t believe it,” Rita sighs. She looks down for a moment, notices the vibrant city below them, and shuts her eyes  _ tight.  _ “But you have to trust me. You have to trust both of us.”

Larry remembers that he is in the Negative Spirit’s arms. It is comforting, somehow; the Spirit’s presence is comforting. He will never be alone. 

It’s like flying, he thinks, momentarily. Up here. It’s like piloting an airplane once again, soaring through the vast skies. He wonders if the Spirit makes the same connection. If Rita makes the same connection. If any aspect of divinity is listening.

Larry follows Rita’s movement and closes his own eyes. Only the Negative Spirit and Rita Farr exist here, trapped in this moment, for the next three hours it is  _ only  _ them, which brings Larry an odd sense of serenity. He feels the Spirit crackle against his bandages, and Rita takes his hand in her own.

“Well,” he says. “I’m getting there.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> that episode was... something! it sure was! this is not good but i had to write something because... that episode exists and yeah!


End file.
